Tell Halaf

Tell Halaf is an archaeological site in the Al Hasakah governorate of northeastern Syria, a few kilometers from the city of Ra's al-'Ayn near the Turkish border. The site, which dates to the 6th millennium BCE, was the first to be excavated from a Neolithic culture, later called the Halaf culture, characterized by glazed pottery painted with geometric and animal designs.

In the Bronze Age it was a Hittite ruling city, and then in the 10th century BCE the location of the Aramaean city-state of Guzana or Gozan. By the end of the 9th century it was a famous Aramean city-state. The many finds of monumental sculpture removed to various museums around the world mostly date from the later periods.